Stanford Harmonics

The Stanford Harmonics, an alternative a cappella group from Stanford University, performed at Sheffield-Sterling-Strathcona Hall last Friday in a joint concert with Pitches & Tones, The Yale Alley Cats and Proof of the Pudding.

Pitches & Tones organized the concert and invited the Stanford Harmonics to make New Haven the final stop in the group’s tour of the east coast. The concert was meant to allow the Stanford and Yale groups to experience each other’s music, said Michelle Hu, ’20, president of Pitches and Tones.

“The actual songs performed at the concert and the way that the Yale groups performed were consistent with all of our other performances,” Hu explained. “The main thing that made this concert special was that we were able to do it with the Stanford Harmonics, while being dazzled by them as well.”

The Harmonics’ lineup began with “Believer,” followed by “Brand New Day,” “Dream,” “Crossfire” and a mashup of three songs by Fall Out Boy, Pink and Imagine Dragons.

About 100 students attended the concert, snapping and clapping for the Stanford and Yale groups. Members of Yale’s a cappella groups were excited by the turnout and the crowd’s energy.

“The turnout was wonderful for a Thursday night, first week back from break,” Hu said. “The audience response seemed to be really positive and super excited about being able to see the Harmonics perform. It definitely made planning the entire concert well worth it.”

Hu emphasized that her favorite aspect of the concert was experiencing a cappella through the eyes of a different campus and community.

Annie Ng of the Stanford Harmonics said the turnout was “pretty fair,” but that she was less interested in who came to see the performance than in the performance itself.

“We don’t really pay too much attention to [the] amount of people in the audience and things like that,” said Annie Ng, a member of Stanford Harmonics. “We just love doing what we do and having fun on stage and we hope that translates no matter what size the audience.”

This performance was The Alley Cats’ first joint concert with an a cappella group from Stanford.

The Alley Cats chose songs that catered to college students, such as “Chandelier” and “If I Ain’t Got You,” said Mohit Sani, ’19, musical director of The Alley Cats.

“The audience and the performers fed off one another’s energy, so we all had fun,” said Ivana Prstic ’21, an attendee.

The Stanford Harmonics have released nine full-length albums.

Jever Mariwala | jever.mariwala@yale.edu